Freak rainfall: 117mm at Palam, 10mm elsewhere

On Thursday, Delhi witnessed a 'freak rainfall pattern', with Palam and adjoining areas receiving unprecedented rainfall — 117mm in one hour, even as several areas across Delhi received less than 10mm rain.

Met officials have forecast thunderstorms with rainfall for Friday, too, but said rainfall activity will decrease from Saturday onwards.

The Met office recorded 35mm rainfall for the city till 5.30pm on Thursday, but this was mostly restricted to south Delhi areas.

However, despite rainfall across the Capital, the maximum temperature was recorded at 34.2 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year.

The minimum was recorded at 25.6 degrees Celsius (one notch above normal).

Ajit Tyagi, director general of India Meteorology Department (IMD), explained the rainfall at the airport as “intense localised high rainfall” and said, “This happens when there is thunderstorm.”

BP Yadav, director, IMD added, “The thunderstorm was caused due to strong Western Disturbances and monsoon trough passing over Delhi on Thursday.”

Several areas received rainfall in the morning but the Met department called it 'trace rainfall', since it was very little.

This pattern prevailed over, among other areas, the Ridge.

“When I started out from University to go to my friend's place in Noida, it was raining there but was sunny in east Delhi,” said Amita Sinha-Sharma, a resident of Mukherjee Nagar.

Met officials say rainfall activity will decrease from Saturday onwards. On Friday, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 32 and 25 degree Celsius, respectively.

Delhi drenched

Even as various parts of the Capital received uneven rainfall, the weatherman has predicted more rainfall today